Kat's Rantings, Ravings and Whatever

If I know you personally and haven't invited you here -- well, there's a reason for that, so kindly go on back to whichever part of my life you belong in. Trust me, this is for your own good. Thank you.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Post #3 - It's only been a few days, right?

Yup, work is still nuts, but the good news is that the world's greatest supervisor (who isn't mine, just for the record, but was years ago) got my status fixed and I now have to be paid for EVERY HOUR I WORK. Woohoo!! And I have to be paid for every hour I worked last year. Another Woohoo! They haven't figured out how that's going to happen yet, but I won't let them get away with not paying me.
I need to pay for my yarn habit somehow.
With the help of my dear friend Windy (who found my beautiful house) and my friend Ricardo I have planted my first garden. My soil is crap so God only knows if the daily watering is going to help. I think I need to buy worms and inflict my crap soil on them. I hope it doesn't hurt the poor worms.
I still have done zero knitting for me...although lots of yarn buying for me...one of these days.
My porch swing (housewarming gift from Mom and aunts) is up and I love it. It was fabulous last week when it was 90F. It's so lovely and cool on my porch.
Ooh, it's the end of the month, I could re-instate Books and Movies of the Month....
Books Read in April
#16 Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman (2011) 413 pages
#17 Poison Flower: A Jane Whitefield Novel by Thomas Perry (2012) 274 pages
Books Read in May
#18 (of 2012) Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology by Marc Headley (2009) 371 pages
#19 All Wound Up: The Yarn Harlot Writes for a Spin by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (2011) 235 pages (the best knitting humorist writer out there)
#20 The Serpent's Shadow: Book 3 of the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan (2012) 406 pages
#21 Stolen Prey by John Sandford (2012) 402 pages
#22 The Technologists by Matthew Pearl (2012) 480 pages
#23 City of Lost Souls: Book 5 of The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare (2012) 536 pages
Movies Watched in April
#29 Louder than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story (DFT) 2011
#30 The Public Enemy (Redford) 1931 - Jimmy Cagney
#31 Angels with Dirty Faces (Redford) 1938 - Jimmy Cagney
#32 The Bank Job (K) 2008
Movies Watched in May
#33 (of 2012) Senna (N) 2010
Yeah, I was on a Scientology jag there. I figure if I'm going to slag something I should learn about it. And it's fascinating. I recommend both books.
May Book of the Month has to go to The Technologists. I love Matthew Pearl. It's his fourth book and I have loved every single one. I would definitely recommend everybody read all of them (The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow and The Last Dickens).
April's Movie of the Month was Louder than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story without a doubt. As a Detroiter, I had to pick it, but it truly was a fascinating look at the late 1960s/early 1970s Detroit music scene. And all you really need to know about how cool it was is that The Who played Tommy at the Grande - before they played it anywhere else. Of course, the Ted Nugent interviews underscored what a complete and utter classless asshole he truly is.
May's Movie of the Month is obvious since it was the only movie I watched, but I would hazard a guess that Senna would have won even if I had watched ten movies. If you have never followed F1 or even if you know the story intimately, unless you're a Prost fan with blinders on, you'd come away thinking "Damn, Prost was a dick." And if you know a little about current F1, you'd probably think, "Holy crap, Jean-Marie Balestre is a bigger dick than Max Mosley, and I didn't think that was possible."
At any rate, definitely check it out. It is an amazing movie...and if you can find Louder than Love, oy, it was a fun movie. Although it might have been the atmosphere, as it felt like old home week at the Detroit Film Theatre that night as all the old hippies found each other and got reacquainted.
And while I chose a book of the month for May, I'd say you couldn't go wrong reading any of the books (although I'd recommend reading the previous books if it were a continuation of a series).

About Me

My favorite season is summer because I used to spend it traveling the continent going to Champ Car races, but thanks to a certain selfish pig of a Hoosier (TFG), I no longer have what I loved most in this world. I hate big heavy winter coats that make it uncomfortable getting into the car.